I have done some reasearch - honest!

I am after a light for my non-flashaholic father-in-law (cheap - under $20)

It is to be used for dog walking mainly - has to be AA batteries, and LED (I have a fenix l2d/l1d Q5 that I love).
It doesnt have to be EDC sized - I think that 2AA or more would be fine.

Additionally, because I live in England, DX is pretty much my only choice for bargain lights.

Does anyone have any recommendations from their own *personal* experiences on any of these:

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.942

thanks.

I'd suggest the Ultrafire C3 (single mode) with AA extension tube, a great give-away for the price :twothumbs

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4452

thanks, I like the fact that it's 2AA, as i'm pretty sure his charger will only take 2 at a time.

yeah, and you can also use it without the extension with 1AA with same brightness, but lower runtime

that's strange regulation - my l1/l2 affects the brightness somewhat.

d1dd1 said:

I'd suggest the Ultrafire C3 (single mode) with AA extension tube, a great give-away for the price :twothumbs

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4452

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I have an UltraFire C3 CREE (from DX) and think it's a terrific little light. Certainly well worth the $20 or so I paid for it several months ago. However, iI think I recently read somewhere on CPF that the product may have been cheapened recently. I'd check and ask around here on CPF before I pulled the trigger.

Jim

Lumapower 303 Should fit the bill. But it's 35 bucks

to be honest, i'm not spending $35 on a light thats not even for me!!

aw come on suck up to the father-in-law. Maybe you can borrow it and he'll forget you have it.

Comparison review of the single vs multi-stage Ultrafire C3 here:
Ultrafire C3 Multi-stage vs Single-stage (14500/3AA ADDED): RUNTIMES, pics!

But read through the thread and you'll see the output/modes/build quality is now *extremely* variable on these lights. On the multi-stage, you may even get a completely different circuit with lousy runtimes and no real low modes. Frankly hard to recommend that light any more.

The Romisen RC-G2 is a very nice single-stage 1AA only light. Discussion of it here.

thanks for that info, i was concerned about build quality somewhat - and was going to go for the one mode light anyway.
I like the look of that 1AA light, especially the price! - thanks.

This one is probably the best build quality out of all the AA lights on DX. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3266 Anodizing is not so great, but it makes up for it in it's insane ruggedness and great performance, with a nicely regulated circuit. (HFlash HF2). It's very bright, and you only get around 40 minutes off of an alkaline, so it's definitely more of a brightness light rather than runtime, but with a good NiMH, you'll get nearly 2 hours. The old flickering problem is gone now too, as the anodizing stops towards the inside lip of the head.

even one hour will be plenty for a dog walk, thanks for all these great individualised recommendations.

I just got one of these from DX:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.7503

The build quality is pretty good, similar to my Fenix L2T (old 3W lux). It is bright, with a very smooth hotspot (OP reflector) and decent spill. It is not as good of a thrower as some of my other DX Crees, but should be more than bright enough for dog walking. It is also able to use 1xaa, 2xaa, and 1x123 batteries (less bright with the 1xaa, though). The price is right, at $15.82.

Of the lights I have bought from DX (some of the cheaper ones which were utter toilet fodder), I have found the Romisen line (I have the RC-G2, RC-KF, RC-F4, and RC-13) to be pretty good in terms of quality (relatively speaking for budget Chinese lights). I have only had one problem with a RC-G2 with what appeared to have been a defective circuit board that DX cleared right up with a replacement. Please note that I did buy a total of 7 of the RC-G2 model over two orders, and except for the one mentioned, the other 6 work fine.

As DX is your only option for your gift, I would recommend one from the Romisen line. :twothumbs:

I recommend the Ultrafire 606A. It has excellent build quality and is very bright. The C3 used to be great, but build quality has been suffering lately. It's sku 4238 here.

I received 2 C3s single mode +aa extension 4 weeks ago and they are imho the same build quality like my "old" c3 I got about 8 months ago :candle:

I'd also give a vote for Romisen. They seem to be the best value brand sold on DX (very good quality at great prices). I've got the RC-G2 and for just under $11 shipped it's a fantastic light, very well made and of decent brightness. A non-flashaholic would think this light is easily $20 or more.

When I questioned the quality of the new crop of C3s, I was echoing the comments I have seen that SEMIJim was also referring to. There are a lot of comments out there to consider, but I am glad to hear that good C3s are being made. IIRC some of the lights were reportedly made with poor threads; maybe they have fixed it...

I have gone for the RC-G2 and for just under $11, price being a very important consideration here - i'll let you know how it fares.

mudman cj said:

I recommend the Ultrafire 606A. It has excellent build quality and is very bright. The C3 used to be great, but build quality has been suffering lately. It's sku 4238 here.

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+ One more for the Ultrafire 606A...I have too one will be gifted

The new Magled is a joke compared to it...